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'Godzilla' director will helm 'Star Wars' film

Compiled by Tony Hicks

Contra Costa Times

Posted:
05/23/2014 09:51:05 AM MDT

Gareth Edwards, who directed the very-successful "Godzilla," has earned a shot on the first stand-alone Star Wars film.

It's almost as if the Nerd Gods asked, "Hmm, how can we top a new Godzilla movie happening the same month as they start shooting new "Star Wars" with the original cast ... how can we get these people living in mom's basement to need even more asthma medication?"

Lucasfilm and Disney have announced that, in addition to the trilogy they're producing that advances the main storyline seen in the first six Star Wars films, they also will make films focused on various characters from those films outside the main narrative. No details have been revealed, except that these movies will be released between main episodes; the first will be written by Gary Whitta ("After Earth," "The Book of Eli"); and it will open in theaters on Dec. 16, 2016.

"Ever since I saw Star Wars, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life-- join the Rebel Alliance," Edwards said in a statement, according to Rolling Stone. "I could not be more excited and honored to go on this mission with Lucasfilm."

They should make Godzilla a Sith Lord.

"From the moment I first saw the original movie as a wide-eyed kid, 'Star Wars' has been the single most profound inspiration to my imagination and to my career as a writer," Whitta said in a statement. "It is deeply special to me, so to be given the opportunity to contribute to its ongoing legacy, especially in collaboration with a filmmaker as talented as Gareth, is literally a dream come true. I'm still pinching myself."

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Ewan McGregor, who played Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episodes I—III, has said he'd like to return for one of the spinoff films -- perhaps one based on Kenobi's time on Tatooine. "That might be my window, there, to tell that story," he said. "I don't know what he did in the desert. We could make up some stuff."

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